A Hero's Awakening
by Fan Boy 101
Summary: The Keyblade trio Terra, Ventus, and Aqua help Balto a stray outcast search for a missing sled team carrying a very important package and guide it back to Nome, Alaska. Takes place during Birth By Sleep.


**A Hero's Awakening**

**Author's Note:** This is basically what I'd think would happen if they put the world of _Balto_ in _Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep_. This idea had been stuck in my head for quite some time, and since I haven't done anything related to _Balto_ and _Kingdom Hearts_ in years, I figured, what the hey? This fanfic is of, in no way, related to my other fanfic, Kingdom Wolves. There might be some elements that both fanfics share, but there's no relation to the two.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the rights to either _Balto_ or _Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep_. If I did, the _Balto _world would indeed be in the game. Anyway, all characters, elements, etc belong to their respective owners of Universal Studios, Amblin Entertainment, Disney Interactive Studios, and Square Enix.

**Setting:** It takes place after the trio departed from Radiant Garden.

**Notice:** This chapter has been fixed and edited by my beta reader KHwhitelion. I wasn't really impressed with what I wrote in the original chapter and so I asked KHwhitelion if she could fix a couple of things, which she happily obliged. I hope you all like the improvements.

* * *

Snow.

That was the first thing Terra noticed when he landed on the cold, white, wilderness world. As far as he could see, the entire land was covered in a blanket of snow. The sun was shining brightly on the terrain, though, but there was no sign of life anywhere. Suddenly…

**Bang!**

Terra jumped and jerked his head around. As he did so, he saw in a bright flare. He looked in the direction it came from and caught sight of a small town not too far from where his current location.

"A flare?" Terra thought out loud to himself. "That's weird. Is it for a special occasion or something? Or does it mean there's trouble?"

He again looked down at the town. From what he could see and sense, there didn't seem to be any hostility in the quiet little village. But that didn't mean there wasn't any, either.

"Well, it never hurts to investigate," Terra decided.

Summoning his trusty Keyblade, he ran toward the little town.

He made it there within a matter of minutes. Now that he was here, he saw that the streets were deserted…but then heard some excited shouting coming from somewhere further inside the town. Terra continued walking – but immediately stopped when a group of Unversed appeared right before him.

"You monsters don't waste time, do you?" He stated dryly, shifting into his battle stance.

Terra was the first to strike; he spin-attacked the incoming Unversed and brought down his Keyblade hard on them. As he fought, he felt himself growing more powerful, and then suddenly he transformed into his Critical Impact mode. Unleashing more hot and powerful combos on the remaining Unversed, they were soon gone in a heartbeat.

Reverting back to his normal form, Terra caught something from the corner of his eye. A man wearing a brown cloak with a hood over his head had been watching him in the shadows of an alleyway. Terra took a closer look at the man and gasped. The stranger's cold, hard, orange eyes stuck out like a sore thumb.

"Master Xehanort?" He called out.

The stranger did not reply, but simply turned back into the alley. Terra ran after him, but the man was nowhere in sight. All that remained were his footprints imprinted on the snowy ground.

"Could it be him?" He asked out loud. "If it was, then what is he doing here? Could there be another Princess of Pure Light here?"

Figuring that he had no other choice, Terra followed the mysterious man's footprints to find his answers. The alley was filled with old wooden crates, boxes, barrels, trash cans, and discarded junk all set aside. Terra continued walking, following the footprints he assumed belonged to Master Xehanort.

Suddenly he heard a loud noise from a rooftop on his right; and shortly after a dog-like creature jumped in the air, landing on another roof top not too far away– with a goose riding on top of its back, screaming in fear.

"Whoa, whoa, Balto!" the goose shouted, trying to hold onto the dog. "Slow down! This goose is no spring CHICKEEEEEEN!"

Terra couldn't believe what he had just witnessed. A goose riding a dog? That was something he didn't see every day. Then again, he had already seen several strange things from other worlds he had visited that he thought were impossible before.

"Forget it," He decided. "I have more important matters to attend to."

Terra continued on. The stranger's tracks led him out of the alley and back onto the streets – where they suddenly stopped. Terra gasped.

"Where did he go?" He asked aloud, looking desperately at his surroundings.

A gust of wind whipped against his face, and he felt something drop next to his left foot. Terra looked down and saw that it was a musher's hat. He picked it up and examined it.

"My hat!" cried a voice.

Terra looked to his left and saw a red-headed little girl scampering toward him with a red and white husky wearing an orange bandanna following closely behind her.

"Excuse me, mister," little girl said politely. "That's my hat you got there."

"Oh," Terra replied, handing the hat to her. "Here you go."

"Thank you, mister," the little girl giggled happily, placing the hat on her head.

"You're welcome," Terra smiled.

"Hey! You must be new here," the child spoke, eyeing Terra's outfit. "Your clothes are funny."

Terra chuckled.

"Yeah, I guess they're not what you're used to seeing here," He said. "And you're correct; I'm not from around here."

The little girl introduced herself. "I'm Rosy," she said, then went and gave the husky a big hug. "And this is my best friend in the whole wide world – Jenna!"

Jenna barked happily—her way of greeting the mysterious stranger.

"I'm Terra," Terra said.

"Nice to meet you, Terra."

"Likewise, Rosy," Terra said, slightly bowing to her, at which Rosy giggled.

"You wanna pet Jenna?" Rosy offered. "She's very friendly. Go ahead. You know you want to."

Still smiling, Terra obliged, and moved his left hand above Jenna's head. He was about to lower it when she gasped and backed away from him.

"Jenna?" Rosy asked in concern, walking over to her dog. "What's wrong with you, girl?"

Now it was Terra's turn to gasp.

_That dog,_ He thought. _She can smell the darkness in me_. _That's why she's afraid all of a sudden_…

Rosy was comforting her dog when another flare was shot up in the sky. Terra eyed it for a moment.

"Two-mile mark!" Rosy called out.

"What?" Terra asked, confused.

"That means the dogsled team has two miles before they reach the finish line," Rosy replied.

"Oh," Terra said. "So there's a race happening here. Of dogs pulling sleds…"

"That's right, silly," Rosy giggled. "Isn't that why you're here in Nome, to see the annual dogsled race?"

Terra shook his head.

"No," He replied "That's not the reason I'm here. I'm looking for someone. Have you ever heard of a man named Xehanort?"

"Uh…" Rosy paused, thinking. "No. I don't think so. What does he look like?"

Terra described Master Xehanort to the red-headed girl.

"Sorry, Terra," Rosy concluded sadly. "He doesn't ring a bell."

_I figured as _much, Terra thought.

He didn't think Rosy would know Master Xehanort. But it never hurt to ask.

"But hey," Rosy said suddenly, "if he's here, he might be at the finish line. That's where everybody else's at. Me and Jenna are on our way there, actually. Wanna come with us to see?" She held out a hand to Terra. "The dogsled races are always fun and exciting to watch!"

Terra rubbed his chin and began thinking.

_Well, I can't see the Master being interested in dogsled races_, He thought. _And I'm not either. But I don't have any other leads right now. Besides, _he reasoned,_ I think I should accompany Rosy and her dog for the time being, in case the Unversed are around._

"All right, I go with you," Terra announced, taking her hand.

"Great!" Rosy cheered. "And you're in luck, Steele's in the race too. Come on! We gotta get good spots before Steele and his team gets there!"

Terra followed the happy little girl side by side – with Jenna in between them. He could feel the husky watching him. Sensing the darkness in him made the crimson and snow furred husky somewhat nervous and concern for her owner. Terra smirked. He knew she was just being a good dog to Rosy and didn't want any harm coming to her.

"If he so much as touches Rosy, I will not hesitate to attack him, darkness or no darkness," Jenna spoke in dog's tongue, expecting no one to hear her.

Her words did not fall in deaf ears, however: Terra understood her perfectly. Part of being the Keyblade's chosen warrior, meant he had the gift of understanding nearly all the languages in the universe. Be it a man speaking in a foreign, long-forgotten tongue, or (in this case) a dog _barking_; Terra (as well as his friends, Ven and Aqua) would have no trouble understanding it.

"Don't worry," Terra whispered in dog's tongue. "I would never hurt Rosy."

Jenna nearly jumped when she realized Terra had spoken to her.

"H-How did you –"

"I'm afraid I cannot tell you that," Terra answered. "All I can say is that despite the darkness you smell in me, I'm a peacekeeper and would never harm your owner or anyone else here. You have my word."

Jenna thought hard for a moment. This…this…man just came out of nowhere and could understand and speak dog? How was that possible?

_Well…it doesn't really matter now_, she thought. _I'll just have to keep an eye on him; see if he stays true to his word._

Rosy looked up at her new friend.

"Have you ever been to a dogsled race before, Terra?" She asked.

"No."

Rosy looked shocked.

"You haven't? Not even once?"

Terra chuckled at her reaction.

"We don't even have snow, let alone dogsled races where I'm from, I'm afraid. And even if we did, I'm far too busy to attend to one."

"Oh, that's too bad," Rosy said. "You don't know what you've been missing then! Dogsled races are the greatest sport there is! And Steele is the best lead dog ever!"

"Who's Steele?" Terra asked curiously, recognizing the name from before.

"Oh, right," Rosy said. "Steele's the fastest, strongest sled dog there ever was! Always comes in first place! Never last!

"Oh," Terra said, impressed.

"And," Rosy beckoned Terra down to her level. "I think Steele has a crush on Jenna." She whispered into his ear. "He always tries to be around Jenna whenever he can."

Jenna, however, heard what her owner said, thanks to her keen hearing. She rolled her eyes. Sadly, it was true. Steele always tried to hit on her, and Jenna would always try to get away from him. He was too proud, arrogant, rude, self-obsessed, and conceded for her taste.

"Anyway, c'mon, Terra," Rosy said, urging Terra to walk faster. "I wanna be up front so Steele notices us."

"I'm afraid the only way Steele would notice anyone is if they were wearing a mirror," Jenna muttered to no one in particular.

Terra smirked when he heard that.

Finally, they made it to the finish line. From what Terra could see, practically everybody in town was crammed in the sidelines: many of them talking about Steele and how he had won the race several years in a row. He then noticed Rosy and her dog squeeze through the townsfolk in order to get up front. Terra followed them.

"Great! We made it on time!" Rosy cheered. "Won't be long now before the team reaches the finish line!"

Jenna barked in agreement, but Terra was only half-listening. He still didn't care for the race: he was more focused on trying to see if Master Xehanort was in the crowd. Just then, another flare shot up, and everybody cheered.

"One-mile mark!" Rosy cheered. "Yes! They're almost here!"

The crowd's cheering increased, excited that the winning sled team would arrive shortly. Terra, on the other hand, was still searching desperately for any signs of Master Xehanort, but with all the commotion, it was nearly impossible.

_Come on, Master_, He thought. _Where are – __oh, there he is!_

On the other side of the street, Terra spotted the same cloaked man he had seen in the alleyway, staring at the racetrack with both hands behind his back.

"Master!" he called out through the bystanders' cheers. "Master Xehanort! It's me, Terra!"

The cloaked man didn't show any sign of hearing Terra.

_I've got to get over there_, Terra thought.

"Yes! I hear them coming!" Rosy shouted in delight.

"Rosy, I've spotted the man I was looking for," Terra explained quickly. "I'm gonna go now and meet up with him."

"Okay, bye, Terra," Rosy said, not taking her eyes off the track.

Terra then squeezed his way back through the spectators while he tried to figure out how to get to the other side of the track.

"There's gotta be some way to get over there…"

* * *

Meanwhile, a stray wolf hybrid named Balto was sneaking out from the alley, arriving eagerly to the big event as it was about to unfold. He had made it just in time: the dogsled team hadn't reached the finish line yet. The race was still on. He had got separated from his snow goose friend, Boris, while leaping across roofs to get to the race, but Balto wasn't worried. Boris would make it there eventually.

Balto poked his head out from the alley to get a better look at the race, while trying not to get anyone's attention. Because of his wolf heritage, the humans and dogs of Nome feared him and have shunned him from their town. In spite of the brutal response he had received from them, Balto would always find a way into Nome to see the dogsled races, and if he was lucky, he'd also get to see…

"Jenna!"

Balto heard Rosy calling the dog of his dreams. He turned his head to the left and there she was: the red-and-white husky was watching the race in all her radiant beauty. Balto's heart pounded like an Indian drum as he stared at her in amazement at the husky's lovely body. How he had longed to gather the courage just to speak to her...

Rosy ran up to Jenna and hugged her, giggling as she did so. The dog sled team was near, and Steele – the proud, arrogant, black and white, blue-eyed husky – was in the lead, looking as sharp as ever.

"Come on, Steele!" Rosy cheered, waving her musher's hat up in the air.

Suddenly, a gust of wind scooped up the hat, causing Rosy to lose her grip, and the hat then blew away – right into the middle of the racetrack…just inches away from the finish line. Rosy and Jenna gasped. Steele's team was minutes away from reaching the finish line… They would trample the poor hat.

"My hat!"

Rosy cried, scrambling towards the track. Jenna bit into her coat to keep her being run over by the incoming sled. Steele's team was a few feet away from the finish line.

Balto saw his chance: filled with new determination, he dashed into the racetrack. It wasn't long before he was gaining on the sled team and was soon neck and neck with Steele himself.

"Hey!" Steele yelled. "Out of my way, lobo!"

Balto ignored him; intent on grabbing Rosy's hat before it was too late.

* * *

In the meantime, Terra was so focused on trying to reach Master Xehanort that he hadn't witnessed the whole ordeal that just took place.

"Hey! It's that stray dog again!" one of the spectators cried.

"He's ruining the race!" shouted another.

Terra turned to see what they were talking about. There he saw…

"Hey! It's that dog!" He said, shocked. "What's it doing? Entering the race?"

Then he looked at the finish line and saw Rosy's hat. He gasped.

"Wait! Is that…?"

* * *

While this was going on, an outraged Steele tried to take a bite at the stray wolfdog, but Balto leaped out of his way. Then he leaped in front of Steele for a second, grabbed hold of Rosy's hat, and darted out of the sled teams' way so they reached the finish line. Everybody cheered, but not for Balto's impressive and (somewhat) heroic deed—they were cheering for Steele and his team's victory yet again.

Still, Balto _did_ receive some applause: for rescuing her hat, Rosy clapped out of thanks. And Terra clapped along as well, very impressed.

"Well done."

No sooner had he said that, Floods appeared in the middle of track, surveying their surroundings.

"Unversed!" Terra cried, summoning his Keyblade.

All the bystanders screamed, and started running away in sheer panic. Rosy and Jenna gasped in fear at the little blue monsters now creeping along the track. Balto, on the other hand, had bent into a battle stance and growled at the unwelcomed intruders, still holding Rosy's hat in his mouth. Terra dashed to Rosy and Jenna, standing in front of them as Floods slowly came toward them.

"You two go somewhere safe," He instructed Rosy and Jenna. "I'll handle this."

Terra didn't need to tell them twice. Both little girl and dog made a break for it. Terra then turned to the wild wolfdog.

_From the looks of it, he seems to want to fight the Unversed_, He thought. _After watching him successfully retrieve the hat – not to mention how easily he jumped across those roofs– I'd say he can handle himself._

The battle had begun. Terra unleashed his Strike Raid, destroying half of the Floods instantly. The remaining half charged at Terra and Balto. Terra then hit them with some impressive attacks, while Balto bared his fangs at the oncoming Floods. With a smirk, Balto hoisted the hat up in the air, then charged the creepy blue creatures, destroying them with his teeth – and before the hat could even hit ground, Balto caught it with ease.

The Floods were gone…but the battle was far from over: Bruisers and Scrappers appeared around the human and dog duo. Terra quickly used his Freeze Raid, freezing any Unversed with his spinning Keyblade. Meanwhile, Balto dashed out of the Bruiser's way as one of them jumped in the air, causing a short-distance, fierce magnitude attack. Balto placed Rosy's hat on top of his head in order to free his fangs for attack. Just then another Bruiser was in his way and was about to jump – but Balto beat it by leaping onto it before it could attack. Soon after, Balto saw his temporary companion destroy the big Unversed with a strong strike from his giant key-like weapon. No sooner had he done so, the strange man gave the wolfdog a thumbs-up. That action was all Balto needed to know this man was on his side.

Next came the Blue Sea Salt and the Chrono Twister. Terra knew better than anybody not to let the sand in the giant hourglass run out, for it would cause anyone around it to freeze with its powerful Stopga spell; and that would be a big problem for anybody. But before he was going to Slide Dash his way to the Unversed, the Keyblade Master felt his inner energy growing.

_Yes! _He thought. _This is exactly what I needed._

And then just like that, in a blink of an eye, Terra was in his Critical Impact Command Style. Terra then dashed to the Chrono Twister and attacked it with one powerful blow after another. In the meantime, Balto was pouncing on the Blue Sea Salt and avoiding their Blizzard attacks. He soon caught one of them attempting to attack Terra from behind while he was finishing off the Chrono Twister. Just before the floating blue Unversed was about to unleash its attack, it was rammed hard by Balto's stealth attack, hitting a wall and then disappeared for good.

The battle raged on, and all sorts of strange, vile-looking creatures had come and gone as Balto and Terra worked together to destroy them. Biting, striking, jumping—adapting their fighting techniques as each new foe surfaced. As the two fought, they learned each others' strategies, as well as their strengths and blind spots. These creatures—Unversed to Terra and monsters to Balto—didn't stand a chance, and soon, the unusual team had destroyed every last one.

"There, that should take care of them for now," Terra said as he "put away" his Keyblade.

He heard footsteps coming from behind him. Terra turned around and saw that it was the stray dog that helped him out. He was still holding Rosy's hat with his teeth. Terra smiled at the stray.

"Thanks for your help. And for taking care of that hat," He said, kneeling to pet the stray with his left hand.

Balto was a little hesitant to let this mysterious warrior pet him. Not only was he not used to strangers showing him such affection, he, like Jenna, could sense the darkness lingering inside the human. His nervousness must have shown, for Terra soon realized it.

"It's alright," He assured Balto. "I know there's darkness in me, but you have my word that I won't hurt you."

Somehow just from hearing that, Balto relaxed and allowed the human to pet him. It felt nice to finally have someone treat him like a dog, instead of a stray wolf.

Running footfalls were soon heard by the both of them; Rosy and Jenna eagerly ran up to them.

"Wow, Terra!" Rosy cheered. "I saw you fighting those monsters. That was so amazing!"

Terra chuckled.

"Well, I was only doing my duty as peacekeeper," He said, modestly; then turned his attention to Balto. "Besides, I didn't do it alone."

Balto raised his head, offering Rosy her hat.

"Oh, Balto," She said happily, accepting the hat. "What a crazy thing to do; just to show off to a pretty girl."

As she spoke, Balto stared at Jenna somewhat affectionately, to which Jenna blushed and looked away.

"I'm sure Jenna wouldn't mind having you on our team," Rosy said then, petting Balto with her small hand. "C'mon. We'll go home and play with the sled I got."

Balto smiled, pleased with this idea.

"You wanna come, too, Terra?" Rosy asked.

"I'd like to, but I'm still looking for Master Xehanort," Terra explained. "I saw him right before the monsters appeared. I'm sure he's somewhere close by."

"Well, okay, I hope you find him," Rosy said. She waved at him. "Bye, Terra. Thanks again for stopping those monsters."

"Don't mention it," Terra nodded. "Be safe, Rosy."

Rosy walked off with Balto and Jenna following her. Terra watched them go for a moment before he turned in the opposite direction. With the Unversed gone and the small town safe for now, he was right back to square one.

"Where to begin, this time?" He asked out loud.

"Excellent battle, Master Terra."

Terra gasped, frantically searching his surroundings.

"Master Xehanort!" He called out. "Is that really you?"

"Yes, Terra, it is I," replied an old, raspy voice. "We have much to discuss. Meet me in the forest outside of town at the south entrance. I'll be waiting."

Excitement building within him, Terra was on his way to the south entrance to finally get answers.

* * *

**Well, there you have it. I hope you enjoyed it. I believe KHwhitelion did a terrific job on editing this chapter. Please review. NO FLAMES!**


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